Momentum Partnership

Metropolitan Community College (MCC) and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and are celebrating one year of Momentum, a collaborative partnership between the two institutions that aligns curricula and support to streamline transfer opportunities and maintain students’ momentum toward graduation.

To celebrate the growing partnership, MCC hosted Momentum Forward, an event to highlight key accomplishments and wins, hear from institutional and program leaders and introduce the future of the Momentum collaboration.

Momentum Year 1 Accomplishments

Key accomplishments from the first year of Momentum include:

• Established a foundational Financial Aid Consortium agreement with MCC as a home institution
• 119 MCC students intending to transfer to UNO participated in a survey to inform future early engagement and student involvement opportunities
• Analyzed curriculum complexity, bottlenecks, and completion feasibility leveraging the Gardner Institute’s Curricular Analytics Community experience
• Hosted discussions around further designing a seamless transfer experience

What They’re Saying

MCC and UNO leadership at Momentum Forward recognize the framework that is being laid by Momentum, which could play a role in student success at colleges and universities across the country.

• MCC President Randy Schmailzl: “UNO and Metro have taken a real step in the right direction nationally and locally,” he said. “The students today don't just go to one school and that's it, they transfer from many schools. . .The work [we're] doing today is certainly the work that needs to be done for tomorrow.”
• Sammi Kaiser, Ph.D., UNO Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Success: “This initiative is about making higher education a ladder and not a maze, and that is exactly the kind of experience every transfer student deserves,” she said. “Together, MCC and UNO are creating a model for what true institutional partnership looks like, one that aligns our expertise, strengthens our collaboration, and keeps our students at the center of every decision.”
• Garrett Gassman, Executive Director of MCC and UNO Transfer Excellence: "Momentum Forward was a powerful opportunity to bring our campus communities together to celebrate everything we've built over the past year and the impact we've made together. Just as importantly, it allowed us to look ahead with a shared vision, reaffirming our commitment to keeping our students at the center of everything we do as we continue the work ahead."

The Future of Momentum: The Three Pillars

Leaders at the Momentum Forward event presented the next steps in the Momentum collaboration, the Three Pillars:

• Momentum Pathways: Clearly mapped academic routes from MCC associate degrees to UNO bachelor’s degrees
  • Pathways show exactly which courses transfer, help students avoid excess credits, save time and money, and lock in catalog years to protect degree progress
• Momentum Scholars: a scholarship program supporting MCC students planning to transfer to UNO
  • Students receive financial support, structured academic coaching, post-transfer scholarship support
• Momentum Support: Omnidirectional, personalized coaching for MCC and UNO students.
  • Includes course selection guidance, credit transfer navigation, cross-institution enrollment support

UNO and MCC’s pilot Momentum Pathway is between MCC’s Information Technology programs and UNO’s College of Information Science & Technology. The pilot will serve as an early test of the infrastructure being developed to support transfer experiences and stronger academic alignment between the two institutions.

The Student Experience

“When students are transferring between institutions, they should not feel like they are caught in the middle, they should not have to be the person responsible for connecting two different systems,” said Anna Reeves, a UNO Business Administration student who began her academic journey with MCC as part of the former MetroMavs program. With the launch of Momentum, Reeves is now a Momentum Scholar.

Reeves shared her experience as a transfer student, navigating the process of transferring credits between the two institutions.

“Having someone that could help me understand what was really happening and have a voice for when I felt like I couldn't speak was very helpful, and that experience taught me something incredibly important: communication matters.”

“Students should not have to wonder what the answer is, and they should not have to feel like they're starting over just because they're moving to one school to another. This is why I believe Momentum matters. Momentum has the opportunity to create a bridge from MCC to UNO.”

Learn more about Momentum: An MCC & UNO Partnership.